[Peetwo]

Dicky King forced out of her Aviation Coma?? - 

Via BITN thread:

A new hat - for the minister:-

"It may surprise some people to learn that the term hat trick actually originated in British cricket. A bowler who retired three batsmen with three consecutive balls in cricket was entitled to a new hat at the expense of the club to commemorate this feat."

Bowled - Halfwit - a long, expensive, lack lustre innings finally over; much to the relief  of those in the pavilion who like to see the batsman actually put some runs on the board.

At the other end of the wicket - the hapless Spence must now face the bowling, with the the inutile puffed up Popinjay in support as 'Last Man Jack', - less help and little hope of keeping Betsy's first XI innings alive. McKenzie bowling from the pavilion end, Fawcett behind the stumps, with Canavan at first Slip. 

"The last batter in the order (at position 11) is sometimes referred to as Last Man Jack, a term that has passed into everyday parlance. This is because if the batting order were arranged as a pack of cards numbers 9 and 10 would be followed by Jack."

Ayup, a bit of good news to go with a last Ale; bit of a party here at the BRB - just a 'small' celebration.

Hmmm...here's the WOFTAM miniscule Dick King MR:

Airservices Australia CEO

I thank the CEO of Airservices Australia, Jason Harfield, for his contribution to aviation and air traffic management as he prepares to leave in June, after 8 years in the role.

In his time as CEO, Jason has supported the continued high standard of safe, efficient and effective delivery of air traffic and aviation rescue firefighting services in Australia.

He oversaw Airservices’ operations throughout the pandemic, and has been actively involved in the OneSKY program which will ensure the future civil and military air traffic management needs are met.

In a career spanning more than 30 years, Mr Harfield has served in a range of important roles in the industry including serving as Australia’s Head Air Traffic Controller. He has been a core member of the Airservices Executive leadership team for nearly two decades.

Mr Harfield’s term finishes on 8 June 2024. 

The Airservices Board has commenced a global search for his replacement and an acting CEO will be appointment?? in the interim.

The abbreviated 6 paragraph announcement of Harfwit's demise, along with the 'appointment' vs appointed, IMO indicates how rushed this MR was put out and suggests that Betsy's crisis management minions are jumping into action...  

Off the UP 'missy' IMO absolutely nails why this is required and why the WOFTAM Dicky King is desperately trying to distant herself from the whole ASA 'SHIT SHOW':

missy

This announcement gives me no joy or hope.

Jason was a deadman walking after Senate Estimates S***Show when Senator McKenzie ripped into him.

Originally Posted by cbradio

Airservices has today announced that there shall be a new CEO after Minister Catherine King declined the Board’s recommendation to re-appoint Jason Harfield.

Is that the same as "stepping down"?

No, but given the Board recommended his re-appointment then this announcement places the Board on notice. Surely this is a vote of no Confidence in the Board of Airservices, a vote of no confidence in John Weber, Greg Hood, Eileen Doyle, Marlene Kanga, Anne Brown, Nicolle Connelly and Mel Hupfield. The tenures of Weber, Hood and Kanga expire this year, it is hard to see how Minister King could reappoint any of them.

Originally Posted by konstantin

Hoody would have street cred re background certainly.

There would be many who would disagree.

Airservices Australia has lost its way, there is no service excellence. Widespread change is required, cultural change and leading by example.

There are a number of hand grenades that an incoming CEO will need to deal with. Pending ATC Industrial Action (PIA), TIBA and Operational Restrictions, OneSky delays and cost blow-outs ($5 billion and counting), Mangalore Coroners Inquest, Pricing negotiations with Industry, Western Sydney Airport, Sydney TCU relocation.

Jason previously held a number of EGM roles - Service Delivery (OneSky), Air Traffic Control Group and Safety Management Group. Unlike Morrison he didn't hold these roles simultaneously.

The Greens have added a very different perspective. Basically claiming a scalp as part of the Brisbane Airport Noise Issues.

Airservices Australia CEO change vindicates community concerns, but more must be done to address systemic problems

Transport Minister Catherine King has today announced that Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield will not be reappointed despite the Airservices Australia Board recommending his renewal.

The decision comes after Airservices Australia (ASA) has received record complaints about aircraft noise following the opening of Brisbane Airport's second runway.

A Greens-secured Senate inquiry into aircraft noise heard just weeks ago from multiple witnesses about the repeated failures of ASA in community engagement, flight path design around Brisbane’s second runway, and a severe shortage of air traffic controllers.

Lines attributable to Elizabeth Watson-Brown MP, Greens spokesperson for Transport, Infrastructure and Sustainable Cities:

“Today’s announcement that Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield’s contract won’t be renewed by the Minister is clear result of pressure from the Brisbane community and the Greens who have highlighted ASA’s repeated failures, particularly in dealing with aircraft noise issues.

“Minister King’s decision, overturning the board of ASA who recommended Mr Harfield’s reappointment, is clear recognition of ASA’s failures and the need for change. But this isn’t a PR crisis, it’s a real one affecting residents all across this country.

“More than just a CEO replacement is required for real change at ASA. While ASA continues to rely on fees from airlines for their funding, they can never be a truly independent body that makes decisions based on the safety and health of the community.

“ASA’s funding structure must be reconsidered to remove the inherent conflict of interest at the heart of their organisation.

“Now that the Minister has acknowledged the problems at ASA, she should work with the Brisbane community and the Greens to address the noise issues at Brisbane Airport, including introducing flight caps and a curfew.”

At least the Greens called a spade a spade. Straight and clear - "will not be reappointed despite the Airservices Australia Board recommending his renewal".
Whilst I disagree that the announcement is a "clear result of pressure from the Brisbane community and the Greens", I do agree that ASA's funding structure must be reconsidered.

If the Brisbane community is expecting the incoming acting CEO to be part of the solution then I feel they will be very disappointed. Brisbane Airport's new runway and the associated flight paths commenced operations on 12 July 2020, and the incoming acting CEO was EGM Air Navigation Services from May 2019 until October 2020 and then Chief Strategy and Customer Experience Officer from October 2020. Arguably oversaw the introduction of parallel runway operations and then with a change of roles, responsible for fixing the mess.

When is the next Senate Estimates?

Expect a lot of.

Mr Curran: I'll have to take that on notice.

It could also be that Betsy saw the Bonza distraction as the perfect opportunity to squeak out his decision to start to clear the decks of a totally dysfunctional, administratively corrupt ASA Board and Executive management team, that have literally run our ATC system into the ground and in non-compliance with ICAO (standby for the ICAO audit findings -  ).

Here is the Media heat that Dicky King suddenly found herself under due to the Bonza decision to go into voluntary administration...

30 April:

Transcript - doorstop in Melbourne

Transcript - 3AW Drive - Jacqui Felgate

JACQUI FELGATE: The TWU is calling for a Safe and Secure Skies Commission to be set up and to set standards for aviation. He says, Michael Kaine, that the industry is in crisis. Do you agree?

CATHERINE KING: Look, no, I don’t agree with Michael on that, and it’s not a policy that the Government is intending to pursue. What we have done is through really extensive consultation throughout the aviation industry, had an Aviation Green Paper and an Aviation White Paper. We know that competition is an issue. There are also issues around consumer rights, there are issues around industrial relations in aviation, a whole raft of measures, and the Government White Paper will certainly address all of those. We are, despite the fact, incredible travellers in Australia, a very small market. And I think it is clear to say that we do see from time-to-time smaller players pop up and work in that market.

ABC Radio National with Andy Park

ANDY PARK: Minister, under your government, an airline has folded. We’ve seen record profits from Qantas, and a request by Qatar Airways for additional flights being knocked back. We seem to have a problem about competition and reliability in this country. I don’t know, is some kind of government intervention needed? Is Bonza’s folding evidence of your government’s regulation favouring big players?

CATHERINE KING: Well, I think what we’ve got to remember that despite the fact that we are incredible travellers, both domestically and internationally, we are a very small market. And it is a small market in terms of, of the number of customers available and really, you know, in terms of what the market can bear in relation to that. We’ve got two big players in Qantas and Virgin, really important that they stay strong and that we have that both, you know, Qantas has over 51 per cent Australian-owned and has that international carrier. As an Australian company, we absolutely have to keep that. Virgin is incredibly important as well, as well as Jetstar and Rex, our regional airline. It is very challenging when you’ve got smaller players coming into the market. I hope very much that Bonza is able to be successful through this process. But we’ve obviously seen that’ll be a matter for the administrators to go through the books, understand what their liabilities are, and to look at whether they can continue to operate on the model that they’re operating on.

What we have done as a government, though, is a few things. In terms of the domestic market, we’ve absolutely made sure that we’re doing everything we can. So, slots reforms, making sure there is available slots at Sydney Airport, they haven’t been reformed in over 27 years. I’ve already announced a significant reform to those. We’ve got an Aviation White Paper. It’s the first time one’s been done in over 13 years.

ANDY PARK: Yeah, just on that White Paper. Minister, do we expect that to be released any earlier or do you have a date on that? Because obviously Bonza’s demise might hasten the need for this White Paper.

CATHERINE KING: No, look, certainly we’re still planning to do that in the early stages of the second quarter of this year. That’s always been the plan to do that. Obviously, there’ll be some announcements, we hope, in the Budget in relation to some funding in relation to aviation overall. There’s a lot happening in the space. There’s what’s happening at our airports, there’s our airlines, there’s also consumer rights that have been subject to a fair bit of commentary and there have been issues. But again, we haven’t seen any of that work being done in terms of aviation reform, at least for well over a decade.

Here is the RN Andy Park audio of the DK interview: Passengers stranded as budget carrier Bonza goes bust

(This segment also includes an interview in response, with the lately MIA CEO of AOPA Oz Ben Morgan??)

ABC Statewide Drive, Victoria with Prue Bentley

PRUE BENTLEY: They have increased competition, though, in our domestic market, which is notoriously expensive because of the few players in the system. Do we need to have a look at that?

CATHERINE KING: Well, look, obviously through the Aviation White Paper, the Government is looking at issues of competition and obviously the biggest thing we have done to date is the slots reform at Sydney Airport. That is the first time that’s been done in 27 years. The Aviation White Paper is the first White Paper that we’ve had since the Prime Minister was last the Transport Minister, and that’s a 12- to 13-year period. But we haven’t actually looked at aviation as a whole. There are things that government can do, but we’ve also got to remember a small market.

Despite the fact that we travel a lot, we are a relatively small market in terms of the number of domestic passengers that we have. And so the challenge is in a sector that has got lots of costs, and there are lots of costs associated with flying planes, both in terms of staffing and fuel and all of the logistics that go with that. We are a small market and we’ve got to bear that in mind as well. It’s important that we have the two big airlines in Virgin and Qantas competing with each other. And Virgin’s making its way back through a period where it’s had quite a bit of difficulty leading through COVID and leading into COVID as well. And we’ve obviously then also got Jetstar as a lower cost carrier and Rex that are important as well, as well as some smaller players that have been in the marketplace in some of our regions for a long period of time.

ABC Melbourne Drive with Ali Moore

1 May:

Transcript - ABC News Breakfast - Michael Rowland

Hmm...so again the answers are all in the GWEP MKII (Great White Elephant Paper) - God help our industry because this Labor Govt never will...

MTF...P2